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Canada got the last hurrah at the Celebration of Light Saturday evening, closing the three-night event with a winning display. Canada was declared the winner of the event, with Brazil and China finishing second and third, respectively.

Skydiver dies in jump west of Edmonton

John Scott, 49, died in hospital after a jump at Skydive Eden North, said the company’s owner, Lyal Waddell.

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STONY PLAIN - A 49-year-old skydiving instructor died Saturday night after a skydiving accident west of Edmonton.

John Scott, 49, died in hospital after a jump at Skydive Eden North, said the company’s owner, Lyal Waddell.

Saturday was the first day of the 2013 season for Skydive Eden North, about 20 kilometres northwest of Stony Plain.

Scott, a retired Canadian military major, had been jumping since 1984 and recorded more than 9,000 jumps.

He completed three tandem jumps Saturday, Waddell said, and went up for a fourth jump by himself around 7 p.m.

“It was just a fun jump, just going up to get some air,” Waddell said.

“He had a good, open parachute, everything was standard. He has a very fast parachute, a very high-performance parachute, and everything was good right until the very end.”

Waddell said Scott missed on his landing, hitting the ground too fast.

“He impacted very hard. One of the doctors skydives here, he was there immediately, and we have a paramedic here, and they worked on him. The ambulance got here, they took him into Stony Plain and he died in the hospital a short time later,” Waddell said.

He said Scott had skydived around the world, including training the Canadian Forces parachute team the SkyHawks.